Complicated
by HuMaN-EaTiNg-PaNdA -HEP
Summary: Kevin has problems with coming out and acts differently with Edd in private than in public. Edd just wants the secrets to stop. Will Kevin come to his senses in time to work it out?
1. Chapter 1

**well look at me finally jumping on to this bandwagon! :D**

**i havent really written in a while but i was listening to a song and thought that it would fit pretty well into a story, and seeing as i pretty much love all of the fanart and fanworks of this pairing on tumblr and here, i thought i would actually try my hand at it and stop being a little creeper from the edge of the internet and randomly liking things.  
**

**hope you enjoy **

* * *

Skinny fingers drummed on the flat surface of a desk. It was the last period of the day and Kevin couldn't wait to get out of the oppression of the four white walls with various posters of dogs with goggles and beaker things.

Ever since a few months back when he started his closet relationship with the double dork he couldn't help but feel like the gap toothed boy was like a drug that Kevin needed to come back for more. The ginger let out a long sigh and looked at the clock.

Three more minutes.

Then he was free to make out with the other for about fifteen minutes before anyone came looking for him for football practice. His fingers slowly came to a stop as he started drifting off into day-dream land with a lazy smile on his face thinking about what was going to happen a little bit later.

The look ended up being wiped off from surprise when the bell rang. Kevin took a moment to blink back into the present and then quickly grabbed his things to rush out of the room and towards the janitors closet that no other students really went by.

Kevin looked both ways to make sure no one would see him enter before walking inside and leaving the door open just a small crack. He always loved to see the nerd pause at the door and fidget for a moment before going into the closet.

He smirked when he spotted the other stop in front and cautiously glance both ways while playing with his fingers. The door barely opened more before Kevin grabbed Edd by the front of his sweater vest to crush their lips together inside of the closet.

The door clicked shut and so their make out began, Edd all the nervousness and surprised squeaks while Kevin, loving every second of it, swallowed them down.

The ginger liked how it was going until the brunet lightly pushed him away so he could talk again.

"Kevin…may I ask what our status is?" The brunet asked hesitantly. Edd had been pondering on what they were since the week after they had started their secret sessions. He didn't like hiding anything from his other friends or keeping secrets at all for that matter. That coupled with the fact that he was always confused when they would pass by in the hallways Kevin wouldn't even look at him or sometimes make fun of and locker check him.

Truth be told, it kind of hurt.

Kevin let out an annoyed grunt at being interrupted and took a quick glance at his watch, "Can't this wait? I've got, like, five more minutes before I gotta leave." With that he dove in again, ignoring the question.

And Edd let it happen. He wasn't as into the making out after the obvious brush off but who would be after being ignored. Two minutes later he couldn't take it and pushed him away again.

Kevin gave a louder grunt and pressed his palm against his forehead, "I don't know okay? Can we get back to this now?"

As he went back in Edd pushed him again, "I'm afraid not Kevin." He almost smiled at the frustrated noise but remembered that he needed to be serious right now, "I do harbor feelings for you, do... you for me?" He glanced up and twiddled his fingers again.

Kevin's shoulders slumped as he rested his head on Double D's shoulder, "Yeah, I do." He said quietly.

Edd let the light feeling stay for a bit before going on to his next question, "Then…. Could we maybe-"

"No."

The brunet jumped at the sudden interruption, not expecting it, and blinked at the other. He leaned back in order to actually look at Kevin's face.

He sighed again and ran a hand through the hair underneath his hat, "I'm captain of the football team. I can't just 'come out' all of a sudden. There would basically be no living it down for me." Kevin checked his watch again and sighed, "I gotta go. I'll see ya later."

Edd felt the small peck on his lips and turned to watch him leave the closet. The brunet waited a short while before exiting as well, the thoughts in his head distracting him too much that he didn't notice someone just passing the door.

Everything froze for a second as the two students stared at each other. What's more, the gap toothed boy kind of recognized her; she was in one of his classes. Edd felt a blush start to run up his neck and over his entire face and quickly turned and walk away hoping that she wouldn't think much of it.

The girl who had paused her game on her handheld stared after him with a look of confusion, '…_Didn't that football guy just come out of there?_'

She thought for a few seconds then shrugged and went back to her game but her thoughts elsewhere.


	2. Chapter 2

'_Throw the ball or you're going to get tackled… throw the ball or you're going to get tackled! Throw the ball or you're going to get tackled!' _Double D was convinced that just watching the practice games was going to make his own heart give out from nerves.

He went up to the bleachers to study right after school let out, which incidentally, made him skip the make out session in the closet. Edd was pretty sure that Kevin had a fit before going to practice. He looked back down at his chemistry book and wrote more notes on his paper feeling a little bad about it.

Edd was trying to look like he was extremely busy but every time the quarterback was yelling; his eyes forced themselves away from the book to look at the number 1. Needless to say, judging from his body language, he seemed a bit peeved.

They made eye contact for the smallest of seconds before Edd quickly looked back to his book. He took a small breath before trying to focus on the text again.

This was hard when he felt the burning gaze from the football star.

Edd cautiously glanced up when he felt it was safe to do so again and found Kevin facing away from him. The beanied boy slumped a little with the slight sinking feeling in his gut. He looked back to his book and sighed. At this rate he wouldn't be able to study with depressing thoughts circling his mind. Edd stood up from the bleacher and walked down the stairs to head home.

Hopefully the lesser amount of distractions would help with his studying.

What he didn't account for was the distraction of his own thoughts on the matter.

* * *

The next day Edd was happy that his minimal studying had paid off. He was able to scrape by with a 96% on the test. As he was heading to go have lunch, miscellaneous thoughts running through his head about chemistry and math, he was rather strongly pushed into the wall of lockers.

Edd let out a grunt and almost fell to his knees; that was certainly going to bruise. He glanced behind to see what spots team had done it and his eyes widened when he saw the number 1 staring back at him again.

Locker-checked without a second glance from the guy that he kind of more than liked really sucked.

Edd faced forward again and let himself slowly slide to the floor, he only thought about the germs dully since more important things were plaguing his mind. He blinked as his eyes started to burn, '_Drat._' Edd stood quickly and briskly walked to the closest door to hide in. Double D didn't really pay attention to what door he entered but then his ears were assaulted with soft music and someone singing.

The theatre was basically empty, only a few students scattered about working for the upcoming play.

He felt a little out of place but went to sit in one of the seats anyways. The lights were down in the house and it seemed like it was a run-through but there was too little of an amount of students working on it to actually be a real rehearsal. It must have been just the kids who really cared. Edd looked to the stage and saw a student that he kind of recognized.

'_What was his name?... Jake…Jace…. James!_'

Edd whole-heartedly let the distraction of the performance take him away from his throbbing shoulder and heart. He couldn't help but think that the other was a whole other person on stage than he was in school walking around. He didn't seem as mean and appeared more approachable when he was in character.

Edd sat more comfortably and was content on just watching as a whole other person but he stiffened when someone sat next to him.

She leaned over and spoke in almost a whisper, "You know if he catches you watching he's totes gonna kill you."

Edd looked over and almost immediately blushed. This was the girl who had caught him coming out of the closet, literally, "A-And why would he do that?" Hopefully she didn't notice who he was, after all it was pretty dark in the theatre.

She giggled quietly, "Because he is rehearsing, he's convinced that these performances are mediocre at best and wants only the best seen." She turned towards him and recognition flashed through her eyes for the briefest of seconds, "Hey…"

Edd stiffened again, staring back into her eyes.

"You're in one of my classes aren't you?"

He relaxed and nodded.

At that moment the singing and music stopped. They both froze and turned their gazes towards the stage and focused on the actor.

"I want to do it again. Take it from the top."

The music started again and both students relaxed.

"Holy swiss cheese I totes thought we were caught!" The girl whispered, letting out a relieved breath and relaxing into the seat over-dramatically. She chuckled for a moment then glanced at the other and stood up quietly, "C'mon, it's safer in the tech-booth."

Edd hesitated for a second, "I should probably get back to lunch."

The girl cocked her head to the side with a knowing smile, "Why would you have come in here in the first place? Not many kids give up their lunch for a sneak peak at a show." Her tone of voice changed the tiniest, almost unnoticeable, bit with the last part.

Edd sighed and nodded, "Alright, lead the way if you please." He truthfully didn't want to be around anyone that he knew, or worse, run into an angry red-head in the hallway again. He might get more than just a bruised shoulder next time they saw each other.

She looked like she was trying to stifle some laugh and nodded, "Just make sure to be light on your feet!" with that she turned and started walking through the aisle quietly.

The boy followed behind just as quietly, afraid of what the boy on stage would do if he was caught watching.

James didn't seem that strong at all, but Edd knew he was very smart, and the only thing that he was more wary of than brawn was brains. Some people could come up with some creative things.

Edd shivered as he imagined a manically laughing James and followed that much closer to his guide.

* * *

**can i just say the sudden abundance of nave shippers on tumblr is amazing?**

**...**

**:)**


	3. Chapter 3

The door shut with a small click and then all was quiet in the house. Edd leaned against the door for a few seconds listening to the lack of noise before sighing and walking into the kitchen to look for any notes from his parents.

The rest of the day had passed without incident and the unexpected bout of exercise towards the end of lunch was interesting to say the least. Rave had ended up catching both him and Kirra which turned into a chase scene almost from a movie.

_Kirra pushed him into the cats and told him to run across the entire thing. Edd could hear her laughter right behind him as she steered him through the maze-like second story. She ended up pushing him into a small lighting room in the wings and stood in front of it to intercept the other boy._

"_Who was that and why was he in here?" Came the stoic voice. He didn't even seem winded from their run. Then again, any type of run is long term for Double D._

"_Just someone who's had an off day! Come on Rave you know that was fun." Her voice was very cheerful and almost teasing. '_Did she have a death wish?'_ Edd thought as he leaned closer to the door, hoping he wouldn't hear a murder._

"…_Next time keep your laughter quiet. I could barely hear myself singing." Edd figured he was over exaggerating a little bit._

"_Yes sir!"_

"_Don't call me sir Kirra."_

"_Yes ma'am!"_

_Edd heard footsteps leading away and let out a small breath. The door opened and he stumbled out, "Do you want to get yourself killed?!" he said in a hushed voice, worried that the other was just waiting for him to appear._

_Kirra giggled and shook her head, "Nah, he can't kill me, besides I have a few extra lives racked up!"_

Double D shook his head of his near death experience and picked the notes off of the cabinets. There was only sweeping and telling him of the food in the fridge. He threw the notes in the trash can and went to his room to do his homework.

Sometimes being a latch-key kid wasn't all that cracked up to be.

A couple of hours later, after he had a decent amount of studying and all of his homework done, a knock on his door sounded.

It couldn't have been his parents since they would have used the garage and Eddy and Ed would have just called and told him to meet them outside. Perplexed about the stranger at his front door, Edd walked down the stairs and to the door to look out of the peep hole.

He stifled the small noise of surprise when he saw Kevin on the other side, '_Did he want to beat me up in my own home?!_' Edd took a deep breath and raised his voice, opting to be safe in his home, "What can I help you with Kevin?" That came out a little more cold than expected.

The red head looked at the door and then looked to the street, "Can I just come in Double D?" He looked somewhat nervous to be outside.

Or maybe it was just because he was outside of **Edd's** front door in public.

The brunet sighed again and undid the lock to open it. He stepped to the side as Kevin walked in and shut it behind himself. Edd quietly watched the red head with folded arms.

Kevin looked out the window beside the door distractedly before turning to Edd, he opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he saw his arm, "Oh, shit. Sorry about that."

Edd looked at his arm and then back to his guest, "Yeah, lockers are more solid than humans Kevin." The bruising looked worse than it was but the big dark purple mark along his arm stood out against his light skin. It still hurt from earlier but Edd had taken some Tylenol so it wouldn't be a bother, "What can I do for you?"

Kevin rubbed his arm absentmindedly and cleared his throat, "I just wanted to know why you weren't there yesterday." He didn't ask about today because he felt that it was pretty obvious, "I waited for ten minutes but you never showed."

Edd sighed and uncrossed his arms, "I don't know Kevin. I just… " he trailed off because he really didn't know why. He felt uneasy about the whole secret thing. Edd wanted to walk through the halls of school holding hands with Kevin, not hiding in a closet for a quickie. He just didn't know how to tell that to the jock. Edd motioned Kevin to follow him to his room.

They sat on Edd's bed facing each other.

Kevin seemed more uncomfortable than Edd was at that moment, "Listen Double D, I wasn't lying yesterday." He paused and sighed, "But I just can't come out with you in school."

"I understand that Kevin, I really do. Your status is important to you and you want to keep it." It hurt a little to say that his reputation meant more to him, "I just really hate secrets Kevin. I abhor them." He was also kind of jealous whenever any girls were hanging off of him but he didn't need to know that yet.

Kevin nodded and stared at the bed sheets, "I'm…. I'm sorry that you have to put up with that but it's just…" He trailed off again and ran his hand through his hair, "It's just hard for me, I'm not ready yet." Kevin dropped his arm into his lap and looked back at Edd.

The other watched him and started to feel bad for the red head. Edd twisted his hands together before glancing out his window, "…Then… can you at least let up on your assaults on me during school?"

Kevin looked at Edd's bruised arm and scowled, "Yeah man. I didn't know I hit you that hard though." He looked up into the blue eyes and continued, "I really am sorry about that." He was mad, that was for sure, and he felt insanely bad about hurting the kid that he liked.

Edd felt a small blush cover his nose and cheeks, "I-it's quite alright." He looked away, slightly embarrassed at the other's caring tone of voice. This Kevin was the Kevin he knew of, the one that he kind of fell for. He felt the bed dip a little and glanced up, only to be an inch or so away from the other's face.

Kevin paused for a second when Edd looked up before kissing him gently. He moved so one of his hands was holding the other's face in order to deepen the kiss.

Edd closed his eyes as their mouths molded together. He sighed through his nose contentedly as they kissed each other lazily. He wasn't used to this type of kissing seeing as they usually only have heavy make outs in the closet but Edd found that he very much preferred this type.

Kevin leaned away and smiled when he saw Edd lean with him for a second before realizing and then sitting back, "What do you say to extending our sessions to outside of school?" A measly fifteen wasn't cutting it anymore.

Edd smiled, "I would enjoy that."


	4. Chapter 4

**Welp I am going to raise the rating for this chapter! Haha whoops. I wanted to write something different but when I typed this out, this is kinda what came out. So I guess more plot will be in the next chapter instead! Yay!**

* * *

Edd walked through the school more happy than he had been for a while now. He met up with Eddy and Ed at a lunch table and sat with his two best friends. The conversation was turning in the same direction as it always did after the, "Where you been." the "What's got you so happy?" and of course the, "Watch this Double D!" (The last one coming from Ed of course.)To which he had replied vaguely to.

Edd watched amused for a while as the two interacted with each other, he really did miss his friends over the past few weeks, and then glanced up and around the cafeteria.

Everyone was in their own little cliques, although the jock table was the one that drew his eye first. He caught himself staring after a few seconds and cleared his throat to look somewhere else slightly embarrassed at himself. Edd didn't want to be too obvious about his crush on Kevin.

Plus he didn't want to heighten the chance of being beaten up later by the team.

There was a loud laugh that he instantly recognized and looked for the source. He found a bright splash of color a good ways away from his table that belonged to Kirra. Seeing her in all black yesterday was probably just because she was rehearsing but he didn't expect her to wear that much color.

The guy that she was with had his own type of style as well. Socks with sandals and goggles on his head, they both had hand-held gaming devices. Edd idly wondered if he was an addict like Kirra, which he had found out the day before from her.

She glanced up and looked around for a second before landing on the brunet. Kirra smiled brightly and waved before something on her game grabbed her attention again. She pouted and started complaining to the boy. He just laughed and said something else back.

It looked as though they were playing each other but Edd couldn't be too sure, he wasn't positive about how video games worked.

He swept his eyes across the lunch table again, (his eyes lingered on Kevin for the second time.) and turned back to Eddy and Ed. Edd heard the tail end of Eddy's scheme and forced himself not to roll his eyes.

Some things never change.

* * *

Tongues and hands were everywhere in the dark and cramped space.

Edd moaned lightly when Kevin licked down his neck and started sucking lightly. He knew the other wouldn't leave a mark (even though he wished he would) it was too risky.

Kevin pushed his hand underneath the other's shirt to slide over Edd's stomach. He latched onto the slightly protruding hip bone and rubbed circles in the dip.

The smaller boy squirmed a little at the tickling sensation, "Kevin, ah!" There was a light chuckle before it stopped and then Kevin's lips were on him again.

Edd grunted when he felt the other press him harder against the wall of the closet. The hand on his hip held on tightly as Kevin started slowly grinding against him. He knew that fifteen minutes was barely enough for either of them so when the jock's watch beeped signaling for him to get to practice, Edd pulled him back to whisper in his ear, "My place after you're done."

This earned another groan from Kevin. He kissed him again harshly before pulling back and whispering against Edd's lips, "I'll be there at 6."

Edd blinked at the brightness of the hallway, counted to twenty in order to calm himself down before carefully opening the door and heading out the other way. He couldn't help but remember that Kevin had a definite problem and wondered how he was going to take care of that before he got to practice.

As his mind was slowly getting him flustered, a door opened right in front of him. Edd blinked and held his hands out in order to make sure he wouldn't run into it. He let out a rather undignified squeak as he fell down.

"Oh whoops! Dude, I'm sorry!" The head that looked around the door was none other than one of the football team. He offered his hand to Edd and helped him up, "You didn't get hurt or anything did ya?"

Edd shook his head as he brushed himself off, "No, I'm quite alright." He gave a half smile to the teal haired boy and stood awkwardly, "Umm, …hasn't your practice already started?" Edd was genuinely curious as to why he wasn't already on the field since Kevin told him that he was usually just barely cutting it.

The boy blinked and checked his watch, "Oh shit, you're right." He started running down the hallway but turned and ran backwards so he could yell back to the other, "Sorry for opening the door on your face dude!" With that he turned back and kept running.

Edd watched, intrigued. He looked into the room that the boy came out of and saw only an empty classroom, '_I wonder what he was doing in here? …Probably studying …or playing a prank._' He turned back down the hallway to make his way home.

As he got closer to his house Edd started to get happier. After all Kevin was coming over after practice. Edd would be able to see more of the red head's 'real' side.

* * *

The doorbell rang at 6:02, and Edd may or may not have been wondering if he had been stood up for those two minutes. He answered the door and was immediately pushed back inside. Edd's back was against the now closed front door as a tongue assaulted his mouth.

Edd held onto the broader shoulders and gasped when he felt Kevin's leg slip between his and started rubbing, "Kevin! Don't you thi-ink this would be better somewhere else?" he managed to get out quickly with only a few light gasps.

Kevin trailed his tongue along the shell of Edd's ear, "That would take patience." He stated as a matter of factly and then sealed their lips together in order to have no more interruptions. Kevin moaned into the other's mouth as he felt himself start to stiffen from their actions.

Edd wrapped his arms around the other's neck tightly and shuddered when he felt a hardness against his hip. He knew that he was starting to grow a need as well but couldn't do much being pinned to the door.

Kevin's tongue explored Edd's mouth freely. They both were breaking the kissing frequently by now in order to breathe but finally the kissing was too much with their building releases. So they just had their foreheads pressed together as they grinded erratically.

Their breath mingled together and their arms and hands tightened as they felt themselves starting to tip over that figurative bridge.

Edd gave a loud cry of Kevin's name as his eyes rolled back. His legs were shaking from the exertion of supporting his weight. He was only dimly aware of his own name being dropped from Kevin's lips as he reached his limit.

A fuzzy feeling drifted over them as they leaned against the door. When they had come back to reality, Kevin helped Edd up from the door. His green eyes strayed to the wet spot on the front of his pants and blushed. Kevin rubbed a hand on the back of his head and cleared his throat, "Sorry about how I didn't give you any warning there."

Edd glanced up and smiled, "It is alright Kevin, after all, I did rather enjoy it." He said the last part quietly and more to himself but noticed the other's slight proud smirk. Edd felt his own blush dust his cheeks, "Perhaps we should clean ourselves off?"

Kevin nodded and leaned in to kiss Edd gently like last time.

Edd felt himself get lost in the kiss and relaxed against the solid body, forgetting about cleaning up for the time being.


	5. Chapter 5

Edd knew he shouldn't have kept bringing up the whole keeping secrets thing. He knew Kevin wasn't ready and probably wouldn't be for a long time considering. The brunet sighed and hugged his pillow to his chest.

Kevin had left earlier about it. The red head stormed out in frustration and went home.

Edd closed his eyes and thought about the moment that he had effectively ruined again, wishing that he could take everything back. But he knew that the issue wouldn't go away. Not until it was delt with like all issues. Lying was against his nature. So in all honesty, dating Kevin in the manner that they are now was not something Edd could do long term.

Tears prickled against the back of his eyes for the second time again. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

The only real option was to stop if Edd didn't want to keep sneaking around behind everyone's backs and he knew that.

Edd knew this was bound to happen sooner or later. The jock seemed more at ease with a secret relationship and figured Edd would be fine with it eventually. That he would get used to it and be fine with it after a while.

Edd wished that Kevin was right.

* * *

The next day at lunch Edd hid away inside of the theatre again. He bypassed the seating area and went to the tech booth knowing it was much safer. Rave wasn't on stage at the moment but that just meant that he didn't know where to go to avoid him. Edd peaked inside and went to sit against the wall on the far end next to where the entrance to the cats are.

He pulled out his phone and texted Eddy, saying that he was busy during the lunch period and to carry any semantics on without him today.

The reply just said 'Sure you are sock-head. See ya tomorrow then.'

He smiled at the obvious sarcasm and then put him phone away. Edd wasn't sure how long he was thinking about his predicament with Kevin before the lights turned on. He jumped and looked at the person at the doorway.

"Well you look like shit."

Edd gave Kirra a small smile and pulled his knees up to hug them, "A very astute observation." He felt like it as well.

The colorful girl sat next to him and sighed, "Soooo, what's up?" she asked after a small pause.

The brunet shook his head and just buried his head in his arms, "Nothing, I'm just going to stay here for this period, you may go to your work if you need to." It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about it, it was that he couldn't without giving away anything and Edd didn't want to use the whole 'My friend' scenario that anyone can see right through.

Kirra tilted her head a tiny bit to the left, "Did you get into a fight with your boyfriend or something?"

Edd froze, he knew she wasn't being sarcastic, that was a genuine question on her part. He looked up quickly while a heavy feeling started forming in his stomach, "W-what? I don't have a boyfriend!" His voice probably gave it all away.

She looked confused, "No? But weren't you seeing that football guy?" Kirra looked away for a moment then back with her eyebrows furrowed.

"What would give you that idea?!" Edd more squeaked than spoke. If she knew, what if she told people about them? Would Kevin be outed in the most horrible way?

"I did see you two leave the same janitor's closet like two weeks ago. I mean, you could have been playing checkers or something but there are better places for that."

Edd turned bright red. She did remember. He stood up quickly and started pacing, "This is bad. This is bad. This is bad." He didn't notice her standing up and holding out her hands.

"Hey now, nothings bad, I don't care about that kind of stuff. You're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, I mean look at me! What kind of book would I make?" she gave a nervous laugh, very uncomfortable with the sudden change of situation.

Edd turned to her and frantically asked, "Have you told anyone?!" He didn't mean to let his voice carry that loudly, he was just in a panic at the moment.

Kirra flinched and backed to the wall. She swallowed and looked to the floor, "I-I just mentioned something about you and him being a cute couple to Sam but that's about it-"

"You WHAT?!"

She flinched again, "Edd, you're kinda freaking me out here…"

Edd finally noticed how close she looked to a frightened animal. He took a small breath to calm himself, "My apologies Kirra. May I ask who Sam is?" he continued in a softer tone but still a little panicked.

Kirra held her hand to her chest to try and calm herself, "Sam, the guy that I usually sit with at lunch? We like to make random people into couples when one of our batteries runs low." She gave a shaky laugh, "I mentioned that you and the football guy would make a cute couple and he agreed. I didn't actually say anything about you two though."

Edd nodded and sat in the tech chair that was behind him in relief, "….Good… that's good."

She swallowed and glanced up at him again, "… if you're sneaking around in closets I assume you guys didn't want to be public. Either that or one of you has a weird kind of fetish for mops." Kirra slid down the wall to sit again and held her hands together to keep them from shaking.

Edd gave a small laugh and stood, "Sorry for that Kirra, I should probably leave now; lunch is ending in a few minutes." He walked to the doorway before pausing and turning back, "For the record though, I think you would make a brilliant book."

Kirra looked up and smiled, "Thanks Edd." She watched him turn when another thought came to her head, "But I don't think I'm the only one that's found out about it."

Edd's breath stopped again, "Who?"

"One of the other football guys, he was watching Kevin looking at you and you looking at him." She cleared her throat before going on, "I uh, sorta noticed when Sam and I were pairing him with Rave." She continued rather sheepishly.

Edd turned back around with a worried face, if one of the team knew about him and Kevin, what would happen to Kevin? "Who was it?"

* * *

"Hey hombre! Can I ask you a question?"

Kevin glanced up from his phone to his friend, "Yeah Nat what's up?" He put his phone in his pocket and turned towards the teal haired boy to give him his full attention.

Nat stretched his arms above his head and leaned back on the grass. They both wanted to get away for this lunch and decided to hang out on the field, "We're best buds right?"

Kevin laughed at that, "Of course we are man, why wouldn't you think that?" He was just simply sitting up, enjoying the view of a quiet field and nice day. Kevin glanced down to his friend whose eyes were closed at that moment.

Nat sighed before adjusting his arms to behind his head, "Then why keep the whole thing a secret? I mean I get it for the team and all, but from me too? C'mon man!" He wasn't hurt or anything, he was just genuinely wondering, as well as having fun teasing the other jock.

Kevin shook his head in confusion, "Keep what in a secret Nat?"

The shorter boy sat up and looked at his best friend in a dead-pan stare, "Come on man, the science geek?" He paused with a small knowing smirk on his face.

Kevin's stomach started dropping at that, "…huh?" Maybe he could just play dumb throughout the entire questioning; after all, Nat couldn't be that observant about trivial things, could he?

Nathan rolled his eyes, "It's pretty damn obvious that you're hitting that."

Kevin just stared. He was so busted.

* * *

_Nathan Goldberg (Nat) belongs to tumblr user c2ndy2c1d _

_Samson Owensby (Sam) belongs to tumblr user steeveay _

_James Cute (Rave) belongs to tumblr user kirakurry _

* * *

**Oh my gosh I got my first reviews! Thank you so very much guys :) **

**dulan: Thank you I will definitely take that into account.**

**3: Thanks! I'll try to make sure to do that more often!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Listen dude, you can't tell anyone."

Nat blinked at the sudden threatening-ish tone that Kevin now had, "Really? I ain't like that. You KNOW this Kev." He sat up and watched the other jock carefully, "So why were you keeping the whole thing a secret?"

Kevin sighed and buried his face in his hands, "I highly doubt everyone on the team will be as accepting as you are right now Nat." He was afraid. It's the same reason why he and Edd had that fight. Kevin knew that Edd didn't deserve what he was going through right now. The red head felt so horrible about yelling at him but at the same time he felt a little cornered about the whole situation.

Nat's talking brought him out of his little pity party, "Well, how about we make a deal then?" The teal haired boy stood up and brushed off his jeans. He looked down at Kevin as carefree as ever.

"What?"

"I'll come out when you will."

Now that one took Kevin by surprise, who would have thought that 'lady's man' Nat wasn't straight. "You're…?"

"I like everyone dude." The smaller laughed before going on, "If they got a nice ass then I'm happy. But really though, I don't care about guys or girls. Gender's just a word." Nat shrugged before putting his hands in his pockets, "So do we got a deal?"

Kevin just kept looking at his friend before shaking his head, "I can't ask you to do that." He stood up too since lunch was about to end.

Nat just quirked an eyebrow up, "Well, you're not asking are ya? I'm the one making the deal here. I don't want a homie facing off against possibly violent people alone." He said seriously. The silence between the two boys stretched for a while until the bell signaling lunch was over rang.

Kevin broke their eye contact to look at the school and then directed his vision to the ground, "Alright, thanks man."

Nat just grinned and slung an arm around his shoulder, effectively almost making Kevin fall forward, "What are BFFS for!?"

* * *

Dull, bored blue eyes watched at the teacher wrote on the whiteboard for the class to take notes. Edd already knew all of this by heart so he opted to simply look out of the window and think about his predicament.

He did like Kevin, a lot. Edd just knew that all of the secrecy was getting to him. The brunet looked to his paper and started doodling in the bottom corner of the sheet.

Edd had liked the red head for a long time now, and granted, with every relationship there were always going to be compromises. But Edd felt like he was the only one going through the compromises and Kevin wasn't giving any. Edd knew that Kevin liked him back and it was always nice when they were alone together but it was starting to seem like Kevin was only acting when they were alone rather than in public. The confused boy let out another sigh.

Was he really going to mess up a pretty good thing just because he wasn't willing to put up with a secret?

Edd glanced up as the bell rang and started packing up his things. He carried the books to his locker and spun the lock in a slight daze, still thinking about his problem. He heard the unmistakable voice of the red head and turned slightly to watch him walk to his next class.

Edd gave a small sad smile to Kevin's back and put his things away. One more class before their little closet rendezvous and Edd was feeling as nervous as the first time they did it. Would Kevin even show up after that fight?

He guessed there would only be one way to find out.

* * *

Kevin walked to the closet almost hesitantly, it wasn't closed like normal, the door was cracked like he usually always left it for the other boy. Kevin cleared his throat quietly, checked around to make sure no one was watching and slid inside of the closet.

There wasn't any sudden grabbing of clothing or tongue on anyone's neck. They both stood there in an awkward silence in the dark, "Listen Double D, I wanted to say that I was sorry for blowing up on you yesterday."

Kevin's gruff voice reached out in the dark and made Edd relax. Edd smiled and went forward to wrap his arms around the other, "And I am sorry for bringing it up again. I know that you have no idea what is going to happen when you come out."

Kevin let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding and hugged Edd back. He really needed to hear that. Kevin pressed his face against the beanie and smiled against the fabric. He guessed that today was a pretty good day overall.

Edd felt the light pressure on his head and smiled too. He supposed that he could keep it a secret for a little while longer, after all Kevin would come out eventually,

Right?

* * *

_sorry its so short! im starting to have to hunker down for school and im in the middle of my circus shows so updates are a little slower! i promise to upload at least another chapter before june though!_


	7. Chapter 7

"It's been a month Kirra! A MONTH! That's four weeks, thirty days, 730 hours-"

The brunette bit her lip, trying to hold in her comments. Sure this kind of explosion was called for from the nerd, but she didn't want a math lesson during what was supposed to be the period before rehearsal, "Edd, I know you're frustrated right now, but can I ask you something really quickly?"

She waited for him to take a small breath and nod.

"…are you sure you're not going to blow a not so figurative gasket in that motherboard of yours?"

Edd rolled his eyes, "This is serious." He sat down on the opposite chair that was in front of the computer, "I've been holding out for a miracle. That somehow or someway Kevin is just going to kiss me during one of the passing periods and say 'surprise!' …But the longer this is going is kind of crushing that hope."

He placed his head in his hands and closed his eyes. Edd could feel the slight burning sensation that signaled his tears were coming. He swallowed in an attempt to keep them at bay and looked up to his friend, "What would you do in this situation?"

Kirra glanced up at the boy and then away when she saw his tears, "Oh man, I don't know." The silence that followed that statement swallowed the room. She thought more on Edd's predicament and cleared her throat to start again, "But… I guess if I really fell for them then I would keep up the… uh…. in the closet-ness."

Edd nodded and looked down, "What if you had doubts about what they really felt like?" He started to fiddle with his fingernails for a few moments before looking up to watch her reaction.

"I don't really know, man. I would probably ask them about it."

The beanied boy nodded again and sighed. He glanced at his watch to see that Kevin had a little over an hour and a half left of practice. Then Edd would expect Kevin at his door soon after to continue with their escapades, "…Do you think I could hide out here until 6?"

Kirra smiled and nodded, "As long as no one sees you. We don't want a repeat of last time now do we?" she asked referring to the time that Rave had almost caught him.

Edd just shuddered and shook his head. He took out his text book and started on some of his work. Might as well do something productive while he waited.

* * *

Kevin was having a great day so far. He had been able to land a total of five solid tackles during practice, he got a C on his history test and he was definitely ready for some loving from his boyfriend.

He was smiling when he knocked on Double D's door and when the boy answered, but the look on the brunet's face made something heavy drop into his stomach, "...What's up Double D?"

When Edd just stood to the side to let him in without answering he knew his day was just about to crash. It was most definitely too much awesome in one day for it to just keep going.

Kevin sat on the couch and declined the offer of a drink, "Seriously Edd, what's wrong?"

Edd took a deep breath and sat next to his boyfriend, "Do you-" he cut himself trying to think of a better way to ask, "When-" he stopped himself and sighed again. Oh well, better get it over with than to be nervous about what's going to happen, "What is the probability of you coming out during high school?"

Great his nerd was showing.

Kevin blinked before realizing what Edd had said, "We already talked about this dude, I don't know how people are gonna react." He looked to the floor and clasped his hands together already very uncomfortable with the situation.

Edd shook his head, "We've talked about certain aspects of coming out but not of the actual possibility." He looked back to the red head, "So… do you think you're going to be able to sometime during the next two years?"

Kevin shook his head, "I don't know Edd, I mean I'm hoping on being in football for all of high school so… I guess not." He slowed on his realization. Why were they having this talk anyways, Kevin looked to the other in time to see his face fall, "Why? … Does it really matter?"

Edd looked away and stood up from the couch, "I'm sorry Kevin but I cannot continue with these relations."

Kevin's eyes widened, "Waitwaitwait are you telling me that we can't be together because I can't come out?!" He stood up quickly and stared at his boyfriend in shock.

Edd stiffened and glared back at him, "It's not that you can't Kevin. It's that you won't." He chuckled humorlessly, "I hate secrets Kevin. I can't keep them nor feel comfortable with having them. This whole time I've been stressing out over something that shouldn't matter!" He felt wetness on his cheeks but ignored it, "I've lied to my best friends. I've lied to my parents and I lied to myself." Edd shook his head and looked at the ground.

"I feel so idiotic for thinking that this could have worked."

Kevin froze at the last line. His whole world was starting to crumble around him, "Do you think it's easy to come out to a world of jocks? I have to work with these guys for the next two years and something like this could end up destroying any respect that they have for me as their quarterback!"

Edd glared and shook his head again, "It shouldn't matter what they think about you! You shouldn't have to care about what makes other people happy! If they judge you based on who you love they aren't real friends in the first place!" He felt his voice crack from the combination of crying and yelling but didn't care.

This was the time to get out everything before they never spoke to each other again.

Kevin fisted his hands in an attempt to keep himself in check, "Well check it dweeb, I have to care! The team depends on me to keep them together-"

Edd had enough of the pleasing others and interrupted the jock, "I don't care about the team Kevin I care about you!"

Their deep breathing was the only thing that occupied the space between them and throughout the quiet home.

The smaller boy walked to the front door and held it open for Kevin, "…But I see now that it was a one way street. You may take your leave now, Kevin." He put as much anger and detestation into his last seven words and glared at the floor to avoid eye contact.

Kevin stared from the spot that he was standing. He wanted to hold the other boy and tell him that he did care. That he would come out to the school the next day and to _please just don't leave him. _

The sound of footsteps and the closing of a door came before muffled crying.

Edd sat against the door for a while with tears falling down his face before pulling out his phone and texting the one person that knew what was going on.

'_I ended it._'

* * *

**Sorry it took a little while guys! But since school and circus are done for the summer all I have to worry about it work! I should be able to update more often! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh come on! That was totes a cheap shot!" Kirra glanced up from her handheld at her friend to glare at Sam. All she got in return was a cheeky smile, "…cheater." Her grumbling quickly turned into a small laugh when she saw someone walk into the cafeteria.

She paused the game and when she got the questioning glance from her friend she pointed to the entrance.

Sam turned in confusion before realizing who she was pointing at, "Hey!" He blushed and turned back around, not wanting to be caught, "Not cool."

Kirra tried to reign in her smile before standing up and waving, "Hey Joshua!"

Sam's eyes widened as he tried to stop her, "What are you doing?!" he asked in a frantic whisper as a blush covered his cheeks. Sam froze when a voice that was now right behind him sounded.

"What's going on Kirra?"

She just giggled and stood up, "Sam here wanted to talk to you." She felt the small mortified look and continued so he wouldn't flounder so much with the black haired boy, "Something about art? I don't really know, all I got are video games."

Kirra watched as Joshua glanced down to the blue haired boy and smiled, "Sure thing! What did you want to talk about Sam?"

Kirra offered her seat and quickly walked to the other side of the cafeteria to watch for a few seconds to make sure Sam would actually stay and when they started to actually talk to each other she grinned to herself.

One down.

She looked to the jock table and saw a depressed looking Kevin sitting next to Nathan Goldberg.

Kirra took one last glance to Sam and Joshua before making her way to the other table. If anyone could talk sense into a football player it would be their best friend, right?

Nat was just eating his sandwich wondering what to do with his sad best friend when he felt the small tap on his shoulder. He turned and tilted his head at the colorful girl, "Wassup chica? What can I do for you?"

Kirra blinked and smiled, "You're Nathan right? Can I talk to you for a sec? It's important for keeping the world turning."

Nat blinked and nodded, "I can dig it. Saving the world comes second nature to me. But call me Nat as a codename so no ones the wiser." He grinned and half whispered the last part to her before getting up and following her out into the hallway.

"Kevin's your best friend right?"

Nat paused and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah but I think if you want to date him or something you shou-" laughter interrupted him from completing his sentence.

Kirra shook her head and cleared her throat to try and get serious, "No no no! I don't particularly swing that way! Well, I guess I don't quite swing anyway now that I actually think about it." She said the second part to herself but stopped her train of thought before it continued, "I mean I know that you knew that he and Edd were together."

Nat nodded, now very interested in what she was saying, "It was pretty freaking obvious."

She nodded in agreement, "Yeah, well Edd broke it off because he didn't want to stay in the closet, I'm guessing Kevin didn't want to face everyone since Edd didn't really tell me much but now they're both miserable." Kirra stopped and looked at the teal haired boy, "Can you help me get them back together?"

Nat thought for a few moments and stared at the ceiling, thinking, "I don't know how but I'm open to ideas." He took out his phone, "Gimmie your number and we can plan this."

Kirra's face brightened, "Sweet, should we have codenames for this?"

"Hells yeah."

She gave him her number and he departed back to his table. Kirra glanced over to Sam and Joshua and grinned to herself again before leaving to the theatre.

She sat in the tech booth giving little tweaks to the lighting cues and hummed to herself. She was going to make sure that all her friends got happy endings before this year was over.

* * *

Edd put his homework away inside of his bag and stood up from his desk. He had decided to go home right after school since he didn't feel like hanging around with anyone else.

Eddy and Ed had knocked on his door, wondering where he was at lunch but he ignored it. They didn't have to know that he was home.

He just wanted to be alone for now.

Edd gave the smallest of smiles to his cacti and talked to them quietly.

"You guys wouldn't care about what anyone would think about you would you?"

He chuckled humorlessly and laid on his bed.

Al and Jim would probably be the coolest kids in the school. Maybe.

His phone buzzed on his bedside table and he glanced over to it debating whether or not to answer the text. Edd reached out and looked at the name, when he saw that it was Eddy he just placed it back down.

Edd sighed and rolled over onto his stomach. He felt so tired and uninterested in everything. He took off his beanie to get ready for bed and got underneath his covers. A few extra hours of sleep wouldn't hurt.

He felt pretty exhausted from everything anyways.

* * *

Kevin threw his backpack on the floor next to his bed and took off his hat to run a hand through his hair.

He wasn't quite there today in practice and fumbled a lot more than he would care to admit. Kevin grabbed his towel and went to take a shower.

He stopped when his phone gave out that familiar text tone. Kevin debated ignoring it but ended up picking it up and reading it.

'_Hey homie, wanna talk?_'

Of course Nat could see something was up. Anyone could. After all Kevin probably had said a total of seven words today. And they were all probably to a teacher.

'_No._'

'_Of course you dont. but you know youre gonna tell me anyways._'

Kevin rolled his eyes with a small smile and shook his head. It was sad that it was true. He tells Nat everything. Well, except for the Edd thing but he ended up finding out anyways.

The teal haired boy had intuition about the stupidest things.

'_Yeah but can it wait? i wanna shower_.'

'_Get youre stinky self a shower then text me._'

Kevin laughed quietly and stood up to go to his bathroom. No matter what his mood was, his best friend could always lift it, even if it was for a short while.

* * *

_Nathan Goldberg belongs to tumblr user c2ndy2c1d _

_Samson Owensby belongs to tumblr user steeveay _

_Joshua O'hare belongs to tumblr user salemintheworks  
_


	9. Chapter 9

The play was going up in a little under a month which caused a flurry of activity from the theatre department, from putting up fliers to the random short power outages from the overusing of electrical things.

The entire crew was stressed out from lack of communication.

Kirra had warned Edd about the short tempers that would probably be let loose during classes and free periods, as well as the possibility of him not being able to hide out in the tech booth for a while. Edd understood of course, this was the hell month for the theatre kids.

She was already on a shorter fuse from having to deal with the kids plugging in the wrong plugs and causing setbacks. She even went so far as to ban the first years from the tech booth and cat walks. But it didn't stop them from messing up the backstage lighting instruments.

Edd blinked as the lights shut off again during their library period. He stayed put until a little click and a beam of light met him along with another creative curse word.

"Thunder-shit-balls."

Of course it was said under the girl's breath but in the sudden silence that had followed the blackout it was loud and clear.

"Hey teach, I'm gonna go fix this. Don't be surprised if I don't come back today." With that Kirra's beam of light exited the library.

Edd, feeling adventurous himself got up, mumbled an excuse to the librarian that was more than peeved at the situation and went out to the theatre.

It was surprisingly harder to navigate the halls and the beanied boy had a hard time finding the door to the auditorium. When he opened the door he was met with more darkness. The only light was coming from someone on the catwalk above the seats.

And judging from the small mumblings of less than decent words, it was Kirra with her flashlight.

Edd thought about calling up to her but decided against it since she was working with electricity. He sat down in a seat and fiddled with his thumbs for a bit until he heard, "Fore!" He didn't have much time to wonder about the golf call when he blacked out.

Edd came back to the land of consciousness to someone's voice and a bright beam of light. He made a sound of discomfort before closing his eyes again.

"Oh no you don't."

The owner of the voice hefted the skinny boy up into a sitting position and handed him what felt like a plastic bottle.

"It's water."

Edd took a small sip before opening his eyes again and looking at his helper. What he was met with was chestnut hair and dark eyes, "Rave." He had too much of a headache to really be afraid.

"Yeah, you were hit by one of the cables that Kirra threw down. She's still fixing the damn wires around. I don't think she knows she hit you." Rave sat back and placed the flashlight on its end so it faced up between them.

Edd shook his head and sighed, "So that's what 'fore' meant."

"Duck the fuck out of the way? Yeah."

They sat in silence for a little while, Edd growing a little uncomfortable by the minute. Figuring that he should just spend some time learning about the other he asked a question, "So, uh, have you ever been a technician?"

Rave glanced at Edd before answering, "I know how to do some things, but I've always been an actor." He folded his legs in front of him and got more comfortable.

Edd nodded before continuing, "So, whose job is more important do you think?"

Rave was silent for a while before clearing his throat quietly, "Its equal. Actors can't do anything without techies, we would be simple street performers and techies would just be fucking electricians without actors. It's a team effort." He watched the beam of light for a few seconds before continuing, "I respect techies. The competent ones anyway, Kirra knows how to do her job and she does it well, Joshua knows how to do his job and so on, We are all a team."

Edd nodded and was about to ask another question when the lights came on again.

They both quietly grunted at the sudden brightness and blinked to get used to it. Rave picked up his flashlight and turned it off, "This period is about to end, you should probably go."

Edd stood up when the theatre child did, "Um, actually would it be alright if I stayed in here or…" he let the end trail off, watching the other.

Rave regarded him for a few moments before shaking his head, "No, you would most likely get in the way, probably less than the fucking first years, but still."

Edd nodded in understanding and turned, "It was nice talking to you." and he could have sworn that he heard a quiet 'you too.' just before he shut the door.

PPPAAAAAGGE BREAK

"Hey sock-head haven't seen you around lately!" Eddy loudly stated. He was crossing his arms and giving the smart boy an expectant look, "Where ya been?"

Edd shrugged and sat down with them, "Pretty busy."

Ed hugged Double D and sat next to him, "You've missed a whole lot."

Edd smiled to his old friends and nodded, "I bet I have, care to fill me in big guy?" He unpacked his lunch and bit into his sandwich as Ed indeed filled him in on what he had missed. A few small interruptions from the other when Eddy wanted to tweak a story were all he needed to feel better.

Edd not once glanced to the jock table.

The same could not be said about a certain red head that had noticed the brunet walk in and sit with his friends.

Kevin watched as the boy that he had admirations for laugh without a care at his friend's antics.

Kevin felt a hand on his arm and he turned his head and blinked at his friend, "What?" he said a little bit more forceful than necessary. He realized his small slip and glared at the table in front of him.

Nat just smirked, knowing why he was so mad. He had made Kevin tell him everything over text the week before and he was working on a solution with Kirra, although the girl hadn't gotten back to him in a while.

Maybe he should stop by the theatre and check to make sure the text got through. Later though, right now he had some damage control to do.

The teal haired boy slapped Kevin on his back and asked him a question to bring him back into the topic at the table. For now he could do his best to distract the red head. Later he can see what's going to go down with the big plan.

Oh he couldn't wait for the month to be over.

* * *

**too tired to actually major edit this, if there are some typos i am sorry :/**

**EDIT: i fixed a few typos.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Heellllloooooooo, anybody here?" Nat knocked on the wall of the tech workshop where they built all of the set pieces. He whistled, impressed at most of the things, '_They built these?_' He went forward to actually inspect the piece further and his eyes widened in surprise, "Painted too? Wow."

Nat backed up and looked around the deserted workshop, '_Well I won't be able to find anyone if I just stay here_.' He continued walking around the back and found another door. The teal haired boy slowly opened the door and immediately noticed the sudden noise, _'Someone's singing?' _He walked around and peeked through a cut out square that was probably a window on the set.

His eyes widened when he saw who was acting and singing, '_Rave?!_' Needless to say he was shocked at how different the boy was on stage. Nat mouthed the word 'wow' and was content with just watching the boy but a hand on his arm made him jump in surprise.

Kirra put a finger to her lips telling him to keep quiet and motioned him to follow her.

Nat glanced back at the actor, very torn about leaving, but went with her back to the workshop. He thought he had succeeded in keeping the look of disappointment off of his face when she closed the door behind them, but realized that he was wrong when she was giggling at him.

"He's pretty good isn't he?"

Nat nodded, glancing back at the door then ran a hand through his hair to mess it up in case the spikes had fallen, "Yeah he is… SO! What's your plan about getting the two guys back together?"

Kirra sighed and looked to the ceiling, "I know that if Kevin wants any chance of getting Double D back he can't be in the closet. I'm thinking a public display type of thing, but I'm not sure."

Nat chuckled, "Oh man, indiscreet is my middle name." He placed his hands in his pockets and thought for a little while, "But, what to do…"

Silence engulfed the room; the petite of the two squatted and crossed her arms on her knees.

Nat raised an eyebrow and squatted down as well, "…Better air down here?" At her head shake he raised both brows, "So wha-"

"Helps me think."

The jock nodded and chose to actually sit. Then he got an idea, "Hey what if we used the play?"

Kirra wrinkled her nose, "I don't think I can let you mess up the play, no matter what. Besides, Rave would kill both of us."

Nat shook his head still going with it, "Then intermission! Give me a mic and I could do the rest." His smile took over his face at his plan.

Kirra forced herself not to laugh and shook her head, "If you managed to do that, I would say that you've got about two minutes at most before Rave gets to you."

Nat glanced at the door, "Do you think you could stall him?"

"That is me stalling him."

"Oh, damn." Nat looked back to the ceiling again and 'hummed' "I also suppose that Edd would want Kevin to actually say it anyways."

Kirra nodded and sighed, "I'm thinking that Double Ds a romantic type. So it would have to be actually real. You know?"

Nat nodded and laid on the ground but almost immediately sat up, "OH! OF COURSE."

Kirra looked at him slightly surprised at his outburst, "What?"

Nathan was about to continue when a voice broke through their little bubble of planning.

"What the fuck is going on here."

Both heads whipped to the backstage door where a certain person was standing.

Kirra quickly stood up and smiled, "Just working on a project!"

Rave's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "You two have no classes together." It seemed as if he was getting tenser by the second.

Nat gaped at him, "You know my schedule?"

"Get the hell out now Goldberg."

The jock held up his arms and shrugged, "Whatever you say Patricia!" with that he quickly strolled out of the work shop, Rave followed at a distance to make sure that he actually left.

Kirra finally let her smirk show; she could have sworn that she saw the lightest blush on Rave's cheeks when Nat asked about his schedule. She sighed and walked to her tech booth thinking; '_Guess I'm taking on two projects…' _She heard the light footsteps of the actor and quickly hid behind a set piece, '_And that I should make sure not to die before they're due.'_

* * *

Kevin slouched on his couch in quiet despair. As the week passed he couldn't help but feel worse about everything as the time went by. If he could he would take everything back. Anything was better than what he felt at that moment.

Who cared if his team had a problem, at least he and Edd could have been happy.

The boy rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Besides, he had his best friend to back them up as well. Nat wouldn't let anyone hurt any of his friends.

Kevin sighed and pulled out his phone. He scrolled down to that certain name and tapped it with the pad of his finger to send a text.

'Hey man i need your help.'

He let his hand fall to his stomach with his phone and let them rest there. He was happy when he and Edd were together, though not entirely. Sure Kevin couldn't actually do anything with the dweeb in public without being questioned. But if Kevin had managed to somehow get back that boy he wouldn't hesitate to shout it to the school.

Edd made him happy and he felt a lot more at ease with him than a lot of his other friends on the football team, save for Nat.

His phone buzzed against his stomach and hand signaling that he had a text and picked it up to open the message.

'What do ya need homie?'

Kevin smirked at the screen and starting to type out his reply. He sat up, feeling a little bit better than before and hit send.

If anyone could help him fix his problem it was Nathan.


	11. Chapter 11

"Cue 42 go." Kirra brought up a slider that was for a certain light and smiled to herself when she saw that the placement was perfect. She adjusted her headset and mic before going on to the next cue.

The dress rehearsal was going as well as it could be. Only a few lost props at the beginning had peeved some of the actors but all was found in the end in a different spot.

The girl's lip twitched when she remembered Nat's text earlier in the month about Kevin wanting his help to get Edd back. She made sure through her contact that the red head was willing to go through a public display before telling Nat to 'come up with the plan' that they already had for Kevin.

She might or might not have done a victory lap around her house not bothering to explain to her very confused father other than, "My three projects are almost all done!"

Granted, she got an earful from Rave when he had caught her and Nat in their planning stages, (After he spent a good amount of time looking and finally finding her in the rafters.) She could tell he was livid so she didn't bother going down, and he knew he couldn't go up since the amount of weight they could handle was low.

So he just calmly raised his voice in a controlled and angry volume. All the while glaring of course.

Kirra didn't help the matter by not listening but she just blamed it on her ADD.

What Rave didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

The day after, she was going through her daily checks of the equipment when she found a light that didn't have a safety chain on it. It most likely would have eventually fallen if she didn't see it.

Needless to say, all of the first years were now afraid of her.

Now that most of the rookie mistakes were over with the rehearsal was chucking along semi-smoothly, all they had to worry about were nit-picking.

"Cue 68 ready."

Kirra listened for the certain line and nodded to herself, "Cue 68 go." The curtains closed and she put on the music for intermission, "Alrighty guys, break time!" she said over the headset and stretched her back.

Time to eat quickly and make sure everyone was coming to the same showing.

The last day of the play was the one that she couldn't wait for. Kirra smiled at her phone and sent off a text to Edd.

'_You still coming?_'

'_Most definitely!_'

Kirra ate one of her pretzels still smiling. '_Great!_'

* * *

Nat was over at Kevin's house waiting for his friend to get ready for their movie night when he felt his phone buzz. He looked at the I.D and rolled his eyes when he saw; 'Pie-eating Ferret'. Kirra had changed her name again without his knowing.

He opened the message, reading it before deleting it. No need to have any evidence after all.

Last-showing of the play it was.

Nat put his phone away and raised his voice so the other could hear it, "Hey, yo dude!"

Kevin poked his head out from his kitchen, "Whatcha want. I only have so much food."

Nat laughed and shook his head, "Nah man, I was thinking of going to the play thing next Friday. You down?" He heard the heavy footsteps approach the couch and stop behind him. Nat kept his head from turning and grinned to himself when he could feel the skepticism in the other's stare.

"Why?"

Nat shrugged, "Why not?"

Kevin sighed and shook his head, "This has to do with your plan thing doesn't it." He stated more than asked and then went back to the kitchen to get the popcorn, drinks, and homemade nachos.

The teal haired boy just smiled to himself and leaned back on the couch, getting comfy before lightly saying, "Maybe."

Kevin came out from the kitchen, and after giving a few of the things to his friend, he punched his shoulder, "You know I can't really do much when I don't know what's going to happen." He picked up the controller and clicked on the movie.

Nathan just shrugged and slurped some of his mountain dew loudly, "Its better if you're caught off guard."

"I'm going to find out right before it happens aren't I?"

All Kevin got in reply was a chuckle. He absentmindedly thought about needing new friends but then shook his head against that thought. Nat might be a brat but he was a great friend who always had his back.

Kevin just hoped that whatever they did wouldn't be too dangerous or life threatening.

* * *

Kirra bit her tongue as she re-read through her little note. She already had a sample of a certain football player's handwriting and was trying her best to copy it exactly.

It wasn't quite working out. She sighed through her nose and looked around her room to see if anything would help. Her dark eyes landed on a little doll that Sam had given her for her birthday and smiled when an idea popped into her head.

Kirra picked up her phone and sent a text to the other video game player, '_Hey I need your help.'_

She set her phone down when her dad called that dinner was ready and went out to eat with him. Kirra was grinning throughout the meal and just laughed when her dad said, "Spill the beans."

Kirra looked at her plate and started nudging her beans off of the corner when her father scoffed and shook his head, "You're ridiculous." She pointed her spoon at him and replied, "Hey! It's genetic!"

They finished their food and cleaned up after themselves before she returned to her room to check her phone. After seeing Sam's reply, Kirra squealed in delight and jumped around her room.

She could see her plan forming so perfectly in her mind, it was actually a possibility!

* * *

**I'm actually really excited because the ending is in sight haha!**

**I'm thinking like 2 or 3 more chapters and then this story is gonna be pretty much done.**


	12. Chapter 12

Rave knew something was up. Call it a hunch but Kirra's excessive giddiness that just continued to climb was very noticeable. He, in the meantime, kept an eye out for anything that seemed out of the realm of normalcy.

This, unfortunately, ended up being abandoned when he had to take control of a scare within the actors on set. One of the main cast members had gotten too sick to continue and he had to teach the understudy the mechanics of the dances.

Kirra was glad for the distraction. It was the last show and she needed all of her attention on it in order to make it work. It was already hard enough to sneak out of the tech booth during intermission for snacks. But to do it and manage to get backstage without being detected by anyone?

It was almost impossible.

Kirra took a deep breath, going through her plan again as she set up the pre-show music to play. Only twenty minutes until show time and then about an hour until intermission, she stared at the dials, starting to doubt herself.

'_It's just like a video game_.' She thought to herself, '_You're on your last life on the final level,_' Kirra felt a small smile on her lips, _'and there are no save points_.'

She looked up at the closed red curtains and the few heads of people that had already came in. She saw the familiar beanie of Edd's next to two other boys she had seen him hang out with. Her dark eyes then swept over the other heads and saw the bright teal hair color of her partner in crime and smiled.

He was sitting next to the red head that looked nervous. She figured that Nat hadn't told him about the plan.

She heard her name through the headset and pressed the button to talk, "This is Kirra, what's up?"

"This is the last one; think you're up for it?"

She smirked, "I can so do this." And she wasn't just referring to the show.

* * *

Kirra smiled as Rave delivered his last line of the first act. She called the cue for intermission and quietly took off her headphones. Kirra looked down at the crowd and held up her hand for when Nat turned and looked.

She could give herself five minutes before it all went down. Kirra took a deep breath, picked up a folded piece of paper, and quickly climbed through the hallway and into the cats. She went through the room that she had pushed Edd into all those weeks ago and climbed down the ladder.

It led into the paint room which was backstage. She stepped onto the ground and peeked out the door and slid through the small opening. There were a few set runners still walking around. Kirra slipped past them easily and into the boy's dressing room.

She looked to make sure no one was in there and smiled when the room was empty. Kirra walked through the room at the various small mirrors for make-up application and spotted the one mirror that was a bit different than the others.

She smirked at all of the different make-up around it and the –what she liked to call- 'prepared for anything' kit. Kirra took a small piece of tape and secured the paper to the mirror.

Now she just had to get back to the tech booth without being seen. The brunette blinked when she heard the door open, 'Oh shitting hell.' She quickly hid behind one of the curtains for dressing and calmed her breathing.

"Oh yeah, that's where I left it!" The boy left as quickly as he came and shut the door after.

Kirra let out a breath and glanced back at the paper with a smile before leaving.

Only a few close encounters later she was back in the tech booth and giving Nat, who was waiting by the common door, a hand held mic, "Remember, two minutes."

Nat nodded and gave her a sloppy salute, "I'm sure I can stall Rose for a bit as well." He left without giving her curiosity a break and went to drag Kevin on stage.

Kirra turned on the mic for the audience, but turned it off in the back stage area. She was sure word would travel quickly and Rave would come and investigate but it gave Nat a little bit of buffer time.

She did have to wonder about the comment that he made though.

* * *

Nat dragged his friend on stage and smiled a charming smile at the audience, "Hello, everyone! I would give a better introduction but I'm sure that you already know who we are, so I'll just say this;" He glanced at his best friend who had a more than shocked look on his face and winked, "Let him know it."

Kevin stared at the mic that was put in his hand and then out to the audience to where he knew where Edd was sitting, "Uhm, hey, I just…. Uh."

Now that he was faced with his decision he was having some second thoughts about the matter.

The football player was nudged enough to almost make him fall over and swallowed the lump in his throat.

Edd meanwhile was staring wide eyed at the jock, '_He really can't be doing this… would he really?_' He dimly heard Eddy ask a question but ignored it in favor of listening to the boy on stage.

Kevin was still fumbling over his words and steadily growing red in his face. He went quiet and stared at the faceless crowd in front of him. Who knew he had stage fright, he sure didn't.

Nat glanced back in the wings of the curtains when he heard whispers coming from backstage and bumped Kevin again. He leaned forward and murmured in his ear, "If you're gonna do this, then do it fast. He's the love of your life isn't he?" With that, he quickly walked backstage to make sure Kevin had enough time.

With those words Kevin took a deep breath and steeled his resolve, "Hey everyone, you all probably know me as the captain of the football team, but there's something that I really gotta get off of my chest." He cleared his throat again and bit his lip while he looked out at the audience.

Edd covered his mouth, _'is he really…?_' he felt the familiar stinging sensation at the back of his eyes and shook his head in disbelief, '_No way_.'

"Double Dee, I'm positive that you're in the audience right now, and I wanted to say that I would really like to officially date you." He rubbed the back of his head when he heard the gasps and smiled uncomfortably, "That is, if you'll have me…you know… after I've been… a huge ass to you."

* * *

**Hey! Sorry about the cliff-hanger, but this was all I was able to crank out as of this moment :)**

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	13. Chapter 13

Rave quickly went into the boy's dressing room to touch up on make-up when he did a double take at his mirror. There in the middle of it was a folded up piece of paper taped to the reflective surface.

He glanced around and then back to the paper, Rave hesitantly reached forward and unfolded the note to read it. With every line he skimmed across his eyes widened and a very light blush settled on his cheeks before he reach the signature.

Rave's eyes narrowed into a glower, '_What kind of game is this insensitive fucker playing at_.' He straightened his arms and fisted his hands, effectively wrinkling the paper. Rave glared into his mirror at himself as if he was the subject of his anger.

He heard the door open and turned to look at the person coming in. They shrunk back and almost immediately looked away,

"Um, Rave? There's something happening that you should probably be aware of on stage." He hid almost halfway behind the door and didn't look the actor in the eye for fear of spontaneously combusting.

"_What?"_

The boy blinked at the floor, surprised that someone could make a word literally drip with anger, "There's two guys, and they have a microph-" was all he got out before he was pushed out of the way of a storming Rave.

The other actor took a few deep breaths before quickly following to see what was going to happen.

* * *

Nat just had gotten past the few students crowded in the wings who were wondering what was going on when he saw the door to the back hallway open. And there, silhouetted was just the boy he needed to stall.

He noticed the barely contained rage in the shaking frame and paused for a second before remembering why he needed to do this. It was for his best bro so he could be happy. And with that thought, Nat went onward.

Rave was just about to yell when he remembered that there was a crowd outside and opted for yell-whispering, "What. The. FUCK. Do you think you're doing Goldberg." He blinked when all the other did was grab his wrist and pull him back into the hallway, "Get your fucking hand off of me!"

Nat, now safely inside of the hallway with the door shut did as he was told, "Listen, I just need you to-"

"No shit-stain. YOU listen. I don't fucking care about what you are doing. It's going to stop now. I won't have you ruining this production just because you need to have the goddamn spotlight 24/7." Rave was seething with so much anger, he almost could see only red.

Nat winced at the tone and shook his head, he brought his hands up in a form of surrender, "No this isn't like that, it's for Kevin, he-" Before he could get out more the mahogany-haired boy was yelling again.

"I don't fucking care asshole! Whatever you two are doing doesn't give you the right to come back here and heckle us theatre kids with your sarcastic fucking comments!" He pointed at Nat with the hand that had the now very wrinkled paper in it, "OR ruin the play that we've worked so goddamn hard on!"

Nat fought the urge to roll his eyes, '_Talk about diva.'_ "Why is this such a big deal to you anyway? It's just the intermis-"

A loud slap echoed through the hallway.

Nat blinked as he stared at the wall. He brought a hand up to his cheek where the stinging handprint was no doubt forming. He turned his shocked gaze back to the actor in silence and finally noticed how heavy the other was breathing and trembling with anger.

"This is my life Goldberg. I am not going to stand by and listen to you bad mouth it." Rave threw the piece of paper at him and continued, "it's bad enough that you don't fucking care about anything other than your goddamn sport but to really try this shit with me? How the hell do you fucking get off on it? Huh?" Rave stood there, glaring as Nat opened the paper and read it.

The teal haired boy however focused in on the note, he quickly realized that it was his own hand writing and 'from' him, "Listen, I've never seen this-"

Rave didn't let him finish at all, "Oh can it fuck-wad. Don't try to sell me that bullshit." He crossed his arms and was about to go on when he felt hands on his shoulders.

"Let me finish."

Rave was shocked into silence when he heard those words come out with such seriousness and the intense gaze of the other's eyes. He felt the wall press against his back and knew that the football player was holding him there.

"I have never seen that note in my life. But, everything it says is true." Nat made sure to keep eye contact so that Rave had no thread of doubt to latch onto, "The way you act sends shivers down my spine. The way you can suddenly turn into a totally different person is amazing. Your singing is amazing, what little bit I saw of you dancing in the first act was awesome. You, James, are an amazing, one of a kind person who's captivated me since the first time I saw you on that stage."

With that, Nat went forward and firmly pressed his lips against the surprised taller boy's.

He broke away when he heard someone call out, "Two minute call." And looked back to Rave who still was in a stunned silence.

Nat smiled and gave him a quick kiss before mumbling against his lips, "I'll see you after the show." He used his thumb to caress Rave's cheek and walked back into the backstage area to go back to his seat, leaving a lightly blushing actor in his wake.

Rave took a deep breath to calm himself and stared at the ground. His eyes narrowed in thought as he brought his hand up to his lips which had formed the tiniest of smiles.

"…Asshole."

* * *

Edd could only sit there dumbstruck. He knew Eddy was asking about it and Ed was only sitting and looking at the pretty lights but he couldn't hear anything. Double Dee stood up and walked around to the aisle. He stopped for a few seconds before walking forward and onto the stage.

He stopped when he made eye contact with Kevin and took a small breath. The brunet noticed that Kevin was staring only at him, like they were in an empty theatre, not full of their peers.

Edd smiled and went forward to hug him. He buried his face in Kevin's shoulder and felt the jock release a large amount of air from his lungs as if he was holding his breath. The toned arms wrapped around Edd's shoulders and squeezed.

Kevin smiled against Edd's beanied head and let out a soft chuckle. Kevin pulled back so he could look into the other's eyes and pressed their foreheads together, "I'm so sorry Edd."

Edd smiled and kissed him gently, "Apology accepted Kevin."

Another voice coming from the speakers shocked them out of their little trance and they both looked out to the audience.

"Now that these two can have their happy ending let's get on with the show!" Kirra smiled from her tech booth, turned on all of the speakers again and continued, "Act two is starting in about two minutes so if you could finish up your snacks and find your seats it would be very much appreciated!"

She turned off the mics and smiled as the two walked off stage hand and hand. Kirra blinked when she saw the teal haired boy somewhat sneakily walk out from stage right and down the side of the stage. She noted that he had a bright red patch on his cheek but was smiling all the same. The brunette raised an eyebrow thinking that she would have to do some detective work to find out what happened between him and Rave.

Kirra idly wondered if Rave would end up killing her when he eventually found out that she was the one who made the letter. Well technically Samson and Joshua helped with the whole forging Nat's handwriting, but she wouldn't throw them under the bus.

Not after they just became an official couple.

She smiled again as she brought the house lights down and put on her headset, _'I bet I gained an extra life somewhere along tonight anyways.'_


	14. Chapter 14

After the play and the small meet and greet with the actors in the lobby, the actors went back to their dressing rooms to take off their costumes and make-up.

The techies started striking the set and Kirra was in the middle of erasing all of the cues on her sound and lighting boards when she saw a familiar head of bright hair in the corner of her eye, "This is the more boring part of it, nothing really much happens during strike." Well, that was a lie, but she wanted to pick his brain!

Nat leaned against the wall and nodded, "I thought I might hang for a bit. I wanted to give Double D and Kevin some date time now that they're official." He crossed his arms and looked out of the window to watch the various students take apart the set.

Kirra nodded and continued erasing the cues with a small smile, "Since it's closing night, the cast usually goes out to eat at a diner together after we're done. Wanna join?"

Nat blinked and smiled, "Yeah? Would I be allowed to or am I going to be put at a different table?" He lightly trailed off and glanced back out of the window when a certain someone came on stage and started helping with the set.

Kirra glanced up, affirming what she already knew and finished with the boards. She cleared her throat and after fiddling with her phone for a second she started walking towards the cat-walks, "It's a general rule that everyone in the theatre helps tear down, if you need a job I'm positive that_ someone_ can find you one." She turned and paused at his slightly confused expression and pointed a thumb towards the stage, "The guy with the intense stare is the one you should be looking for."

Nat looked back out of the window and locked eyes with Rave who was standing with one arm on his side and the other holding his phone. Nat glanced back at the doorway and then left the tech booth to go to the stage.

Kirra quickly got to the front cat-walk and watched from above as Nat walked down one of the aisles and hopped onto the stage to talk to Rave.

To everyone else it was just another person helping out, but Kirra noticed the bored eyes of the actor's always looking at something other than Nat's and when they met, he paused for a second before pointing to a set piece that still had yet to be taken down.

Kirra cocked her head to the side and leaned back on her hands, _'I wonder what happened…_' she thought for a few more seconds before starting to take some of the lighting equipment down, '_Might as well be productive_.'

After the fourth light was taken down, she texted her dad, '_Going to be home a bit later tonight. The world needs some saving._'

To which he replied, '_There's an extra 20 in your backpack for Denny's. Try not to burn the diner down._'

* * *

As it turned out, Kevin and Edd were just leaving Denny's as the first theatre kids started showing up. Kirra gave a small wave and went inside to warn the servers about their little group of fifteen. She watched from the window as they walked toward a car and got in, she figured it was one of their parent's and smiled to herself. She and Nat were so gonna toast to a successful mission sometime that night.

Joshua and Sam sat next to each other, more on the outskirts of the area of the theatre kids so they could still be in with conversations but out of the major shenanigans.

Kirra took a deep breath and let it out slowly, it was always bittersweet when a show ended but the stress relief was more than needed. She ordered a soda and relaxed into the cushion for a while before everyone started showing up.

She smiled to herself when Rave and Nat sat next to each other. The latter rolling his eyes at the obnoxious other. Kirra could see a bit of tension between the two, but not a bad tension. More of an uneasy/testing the water kind.

Kirra texted underneath the table and waited a bit before Nat got her message.

The teal haired boy glanced down at his phone and then up to the brunette before opening and reading it. '_you should probably make a little move before he starts thinking it was a joke_.'

He gave her a confused look before replying, '_how did you know anything about that?_'

She gave a grin, '_intuition. and people who can forge handwriting. now get on with it.'_

Nat glanced at Rave who was staring out the window in a bored manner and then gave a helpless look to Kirra, _'what do i do?_'

Kirra almost choked on her drink, '_mr casanova doesn't know how to woo the mistress?!_' She almost couldn't keep in her laughter.

The football player rolled his eyes and gave a small glare, _'i can do big things. not little ones. im sure that princess wouldn't like being kissed in front of everyone right here and now._'

Kirra nodded in acceptance and thought for a few seconds about a subtle gesture. Her face brightened and her fingers flew across the keyboard so fast that she had to check for errors before sending it.

'_lick his ear._'

"What?!"

She cringed at the sudden loud outburst from Nat and bit her lip to keep in her giggles. Kirra glanced up at Rave's surprised face and his asking what was happening.

Nat made some sort of stupid excuse and chuckled his slight embarrassment away. When Rave shrugged and started listening in on another conversation that had started taking off about musicals, Nat gave Kirra a glare.

She shrugged and then texted him seriously, Kirra watched Nat's face become thoughtful before sighing and relaxing his shoulders.

She watched Rave's face and saw the exact moment when Nat's hand came into contact with Rave's under the table. It held a hint of surprise before softening the slightest bit but continued on with his conversation as if nothing was actually happening.

Kirra looked back at Nat who was now smiling widely at nothing in particular and then joined in the same conversation.

When she said her goodbyes to the last two people hanging around the Denny's she hid behind a small wall and noticed their hands (now) on top of the table, still joined.

When her dad asked her how the last show went when she got into the car, all she had to say was "Perfect."

* * *

That next Monday was a bit hectic. The school was buzzing with the news of the new couple of a football player and a science nerd. Their outing wasn't met with much of a negative force. Kevin's friends on the team made sure of that. Actually it was noted that Double D, Ed, and Eddy were all sitting at the jock table playing cards.

Eddy was somehow winning, but it looked like there were some disagreements with it.

Kirra was convinced that the sudden mix wouldn't actually work for a while until everyone figured out a safe common ground.

Some noticed Nat's absence from the lunch area, but when Double D asked Kevin about it, he just waved it off and said Nat had some things he needed to do.

When Kirra passed by the theatre, she chose not to enter when she heard light laughter and low voices. She couldn't help but sneak a peek though. Kirra held in her 'aww' noise when she saw Rave trying to teach Nat how to dance.

Needless to say Nat seemed a bit peeved that he couldn't get anything right, while Rave was more amused than anything.

She grinned to herself as she shut the door quietly and continued through the hall. Her three major projects of the year were now completely done. Now she just had to worry about the ones she would be graded on.

Damn. Those were still a thing weren't they?

* * *

**WOW. That was fun to write. I really hope that you all enjoyed it and I certainly hope that it was up to your expectations! This story was a lot of fun to write and honestly I didn't want to end it for a while. But alas, I had to. :) if you have any question for me about anything in this story at all please feel free to leave it in a review or a pm or message me on tumblr! :D**

**-HEP-**


End file.
